As known, one of the most difficult problems experienced by travelers is how to put their clothes in suitcases in such a way that they are transported without suffering too many creases. It is, in fact, known that there is a conflict between the requirement to transport folded clothes without their taking up too much room, and at the same time, without compressing them unduly, in order to avoid producing deep wrinkles and folds. This problem is particularly acute in the case of people who travel for work, with elegant, light-weight clothes (for example, a man's suit made of light-weight Tasmania fabric), because the two requirements cited above are particularly stringent.
According to the known art, a plurality of solutions has been offered, based substantially on the use of rigid or semi-rigid suitcases. Various accessories are available, which can be put into suitcases in order to fold the clothes and hold them in place, without compressing the fabrics, which would inevitably produce unpleasant deep creases.
In other cases, padded elements have been proposed, some of which are of a highly complex shape, with predetermined folding lines, on the outside of which the garment is folded.
These accessories, however, are in the form of compressible cushions, plates or bags, which are semi-rigid in some cases and which, in themselves, take up space inside the suitcase, thereby restricting its capacity. It is, in fact, considered, in the known art, that the operative principle of an anti-creasing device is substantially to connect, with broad radii of curvature, the area in which the garment is folded, thereby preventing the formation of small radiuses of curvature which, under pressure, would cause permanent creases.
As a result, the accessories offered by the known art thus far are intrinsically bulky. Further many of them provide predetermined folding lines, which make it difficult to use or to be matched to the clothes, especially if the cut of the garment does not correspond exactly to that provided for by the accessory.
It should also be pointed out that these accessories are normally configured for a specific type of suitcase and are therefore unsuitable for universal, generalised use.
The object of the present invention is therefore to overcome these problems, by providing an accessory which is efficacious but with a very small bulk and cost, and which can be used conveniently and universally, for the support and folding of garments inside suitcases.